Preserving memory

Memory is a form of empathy that puts us in touch with the other, even when he or she is no longer with us. To erase memory is therefore to abolish, to nullify, to suppress the beloved with his sensitivities, doubts, weaknesses and virtues.

Memory, even in its changing imperfection, has the virtue of being a subtle thread that ensures continuity in life. Interrupting, breaking, erasing memory is tantamount to killing ourselves.

As Hannah Arendt wrote, "the first cultural battle is to stand guard over facts": preserving memory is therefore a decisive act because it is the nature of things that every human action that has once made its appearance in the world's history can be repeated even when it does not belong to the distant past. This is demonstrated by the words of one of the highest offices of state, spoken to extol the founders of a party, a direct emanation of the veterans of Salò. Veterans who contributed to the extermination of Italian Jews and who defended the principles of race derived from Nazi doctrines of Aryanism.

Fascist racial laws and the extermination of Jews remain an indelible blot on our memory as citizens of Europe and the world. Impossible to forget.